It's National Volunteers' week here in the UK and I thought I'd post about my amazing experiences with volunteering, how rewarding it can be, and hopefully encourage people to volunteer somewhere in their local community. I have been volunteering on quite a few projects over the last few years, starting with my sixth form that encouraged us to volunteer with our community in our free time. I volunteered to read with a group of children that were falling behind at primary school. Seeing these kids develop their reading skills and their self confidence was one of the most heartwarming things I have done and it gave me an interest in teaching which I had never really considered previously. At University, I briefly volunteered with the Conservation society, getting involved in clearing invasive plant species from a local reserve. However, due to my financial situation and schedule, it was difficult for me to carry on as many of the other projects required a fair bit of travel and associated costs. However I really enjoyed being part of a team working to improve local habitats as it was directly associated with what I was studying at the time. In my last year of University, I was lucky enough to become involved with the Learning Volunteer Team at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London - a team I am very proud to say I am still a part of. Although it involved a commute from Southampton to London every weekend, it gave me an incredible opportunity to develop my own knowledge and science communication skills, but most importantly share my passion for Natural History with visitors and hopefully inspire them to research more at home. This volunteering programme is currently celebrating 10 years at NHM, interacting with 982,405 members of the public since the programme started. Each of the 80 volunteers generally works one day a week, bringing specimens out on gallery and interacting with people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds. The team I work with is incredible; always enthusiastic and super friendly. Volunteering has also given me opportunities I could only have dreamed of. As a child, I spent almost every weekend at NHM London, dragging my mum around all the galleries, developing my knowledge and passion of the natural world which almost certainly influenced my decision to study Biology at University.
Since I joined the Learning Volunteer team, I have been able to attend numerous talks and events with museum scientists, explore behind the scenes and even meet my hero - Sir David Attenborough! I also met Jan Beccaloni, the curator of Arachnida, Myriapoda, Tardigrada and Onychophora, who I began volunteering with in January this year. With Jan, I have mainly been helping to develop the Arachnida collection by incorporating new material from all over the world. In May, I also assisted her with an Introduction to Spiders course which ran in the Angela Marmot Centre for UK Biodiversity. Although spiders aren't necessarily my passion, it has been really eye-opening to learn more about the biology of these incredible creatures and add new material to the NHM collection which already houses over 80 million specimens. My point is, volunteering is amazing! My experiences have very much related to education and biology, but everyone is different, so that's not all you could do in your community. You could help at a local retirement home, at a local youth group or with a campaign for a cause you support. Basically, offering your skills and communicating your passion are at the heart of volunteering. Giving just one day, or even a few hours a week, makes such a difference, not only impacting other people's lives, but developing your own communication skills, your confidence and enriching your life. I have been greatly inspired by those who give their time so freely and have met some incredible people over the years; it is a great chance to socialise with like minded individuals. I would like to finish this post off by thanking the teams I have worked with, especially at NHM London, and thanking all volunteers who donate their time to make a difference in their local communities across the UK - go and celebrate your week!
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DisclaimerViews are my own and not those of my employer |